[JimStinson]

Great Post !
What little I can add is that James MacAlister was a very well respected "old school" collector who put together a massive collection in his lifetime. I remember seeing his offerings through the mediums you mentioned , I think Jeff Morey (another great guy) knew him pretty good as those fellows used to assemble at Cooperstown every year. In remembering back I thought that at the time of his death he had already sold most of his collection and was amazed to learn afterwards that his sister still had a massive collection on hand which was auctioned off. Most of it was in "group lots" that I remember thinking at the time sold for considerably more than it was worth. But in hindsight and certainly by today's standards it was a bargain. I could be wrong but I remember either being told at the time of the auction that , what was being sold was "all that was left" ,
Great material seems to be absorbed into the hobby quite quickly and sometimes dosen;t surface again for many years if ever. Thanks again for giving honorable mention to another of the baseball autograph collecting "pioneers".